Project #154: Equestria Girls: Friendship Games

(Bailiff): The case of Bronies vs Nitsuj of Project Nitsuj will now continue.

(Sopa): Good day to you Mr. Nitsuj. Today is the big day. I hope you’ve prepared yourself for what’s to come.

(Nitsuj): I have your honor. These last few weeks have been a little rough but through it all I’ve become stronger and better than ever.

(Sopa): Good to hear. You may begin when you are ready. And by that I mean if you don’t begin in the next 5 minutes I’m going to throw a book at you.

(Nitsuj): With all due respect you’re a very strange judge you know that?

(Sopa): I know. Now proceed.

(Nitsuj): Okay, so with the promise of a third movie at the end of Rainbow Rocks, Hasbro delivered on their promise this past September with the third entry into the Equestia Girls series Friendship Games. Unlike the first two movies which were written by Meghan this movie was written by Josh Haber a new writer to the series who wrote a majority of the episodes for season 5. Right off the bat this was a bad mood. Usually bringing in a new writer to a continuous movie series doesn’t go so well as their ideas don’t tend to match up with the original writer’s ideas. Does Haber bring anything new to the Equestia series? Let’s find out and take a look at Friendships Games.

We start the movie with Sunset Shimmer running to school after receiving an emergency text from Rainbow Dash (she’s no longer getting paid extra to say awesome). The text was just a false alarm as Rainbow Dash just broke her guitar string while trying to perform for the CMC. After Sunset Shimmer fixes her guitar she writes to Twilight seeing how she’s doing when all of a sudden a hooded figure gets off the bus and begins expecting the school statue (if you fall through and turn into a pony please don’t panic. This is normal. Trust me). When Sunset Shimmer notices her the hooded figure runs away and jumps on another bus headed towards the big city (hopefully this one doesn’t have any sheep in it). We see that the hooded figure is Twilight not the one from Equestia but the Earth Twilight who’s been investigating the recent activities of Canterlot High and believes something is up (oh you’ve no idea. The stories I could tell you. Also, I got a say Twilight looks good in glasses). This Twilight goes to Crystal Prep (nice school) the rival school of Canterlot High who beat them in everything and is a school full of jerks according to the galaxy 6 (Plaintiff: Your honor he’s doing it again. (Nitsuj): Doing what? (Plaintiff): Don’t screw with me you know exactly what you’re doing and enjoying every minute of it). Both schools are getting ready for the Friendship Games a semi-Olympic event between the two schools in the hopes of building friendship between the students (*laughs* yeah that never works, it just fuels the rivalry). Everyone at Canterlot High expects to lose to Crystal Prep (geez, where’s your school pride?) but Rainbow Dash is determined to win this year and motivates the school (through a lavish musical. Scene here: https://youtu.be/H8yvbLJ0C2g, well she’s got me pumped let’s do this). With that song school pride is at an all-time high but the magic 6 get told by vice principal Luna not to use their magic at the games so they don’t get accused of cheating and she wants Sunset Shimmer to figure out why Rainbow Dash randomly ponied up (uh~ power of friendship and plot convenience?). We cut to Crystal Prep where we see Earth Twilight is somewhat similar to Twilight at the beginning of the series. She’s a very smart girl with the highest grades, an outcast, and doesn’t really think she needs friends (the only difference I can find between them is a lack of confidence in the Earth Twilight. At the beginning despite Twilight not really understanding friendship all that much there was a trace of confidence in her character. She had a firm idea of what she was doing and was confident in herself and her choices. Not all of her choices were right but you could tell she was confident in them and didn’t let anyone push her around). She instead immerses herself in her research in the hopes that it’ll get her into this new school because according to her she’s learned all she needs to learn at Crystal High (true. But out in the real world the highest grade never really holds up. Scene here: https://youtu.be/D0HT9LXLk4Q). She gets called to meet the principal who likes dim lighting in her office (okay wow, you’re not evil at all are you?) and wants Twilight to participate in the Friendship Games promising to approve Twilight’s application for that new school she wants to go to (all I require is your soul) or she’ll out right deny her application (okay this is blackmail and you could seriously get fired for this. Also, who threatens a student to participate in a bunch of games? Competitive much?).

Back at Canterlot High we see that Sunset Shimmer is stomped about the magic thing but she does believe that the magic of the glorious 6 (Plaintiff: I swear to God I will end you) is changing. She tries to contact Twilight for help but there’s no response (Brony: Well that’s because- (Nitsuj): Don’t care, moving on). Crystal Prep arrives at the school where Twilight picks up an energy reading using her device which somehow detects magic (forget school give this girl her own lab she just created a scooter that senses magic) and can actually absorb magic as well. When Twilight searches the school looking for the magic source she runs not only into Flash (scene here: https://youtu.be/FqI_flGZV7w, three movies in and they still haven’t given this guy a personality yet) but also the colorful 6 where they believe she’s the Twilight from Equestia but quickly discover she’s this world’s Twilight and they’ll be competing against each other in the Friendship Games (why don’t we just call them what they really are? The Bragging rights games). Sunset Shimmer follows Twilight outside where due to an accident Twilight absorbs the magic of the portal in the statue along with some of Sunset Shimmer’s magic. At the pregame get together (alright, I’ll say it. They all hate each other) Pinkie Pie and Twilight notice that the party is pretty dead (that and there’s malice in the air) so Pinkie Pie decides to re-energize the party (scene here: //youtu.be/OpKJmu2RKhs, by God what is this woman’s problem? It’s a bunch of high school kids not a warzone. Seriously, she is treating this whole thing as if it was a war between the two schools. Take a step back lady). The next day comes where the games begin (the first game, riding the sandworms, //youtu.be/o4tD00_Nna0?t=3s). Actually, the first is academics where the 12 representatives of each team will compete against each other but only the 6 students with the most points from each team will be allowed to compete in the next game (//youtu.be/Y5JxIrn4OVs). So the game begins where we get probably my favorite song in the whole movie “We’re Gonna Take You Down” (actually on a side note all the songs in this movie have been great so far. Scene here: https://youtu.be/OU6kUCrzv_Q). At the end of the first round Crystal Prep wins thanks to Twilight beating Sunset Shimmer but despite the lost Sunset Shimmer receives a pat on the back from everyone. So moving on to the second round are the amazing 6 (Plaintiff: Fuck you) for Canterlot High and Twilight and 5 other students (whose names I don’t know nor care about. Hey I’m being honest) for Crystal Prep. While taking a short break outside Twilight comes across Fluttershy and the two chat a little (scene here: //youtu.be/1EdA29552iI, finally, the one character in this whole show I can relate to starts talking). This freaks Twilight out a little bit but she regains her composure and talks to Spike when all of sudden Cinch comes in and tells Twilight to be her spy on the Canterlot 6 (*Plaintiff flips over his table* (Sopa): Something wrong? (Plaintiff): Not at all your honor. Just need some fresh air. (Nitsuj): You need to do some push-ups. Work those scrawny arms out. (Plaintiff): Don’t start with me! (Nitsuj): Your honor? (Sopa): They are scrawny). The next game is a 3 part game involving archery, speed skating, and motor cross racing (this might be overkill) and the only way to move to the next part of the game is to complete the first part. The first part is archery where Twilight for the life of her can’t hit her target and her teammates and school for that matter discourage her so much that it actually brings her to the brink of tears (good teammates you got their Twilight). No longer able to watch Applejack decides to help her out since Canterlot is so far ahead in the lead (scene here: //youtu.be/wwc873VcmGI, 0:01: You’re not helping. And if that other girl doesn’t shut up the next arrow is going up her ass). Once she hugs Applejack she once again accidently absorbs magic and opens up a portal where living plants attack the race track (oh hey the movie turned into Mario Kart) where in all the chaos Rainbow Dash saves Sunset Shimmer from getting eaten and ponies up where she and Sunset Shimmer finish the race earning Canterlot the win. After the race Twilight once again absorbs magic from Rainbow Dash causing Sunset Shimmer to go off on her (scene here: //youtu.be/lgyAHFCjlwQ, well that could gone better. Actually in all seriousness there were some people who don’t like this scene saying that Sunset Shimmer was overreacting but no I think she was totally justified in her anger. Twilight is messing with things she doesn’t understand and we see in scenes earlier that she realizes something is wrong but continues to investigate instead of stopping and because of her own recklessness put Sunset Shimmer’s friends in danger. If I was in her shoes my reaction would be the same. But even after all this we see that Sunset Shimmer actually does feel bad yelling at her and wants to apologize ASAP).

With this incident Celestia says that they should stop the games and just call it a draw but Cinch refuses (why are you principal? Did you not just see what happened? People almost died. You’re willingly to put your students in danger just to prove your better than someone? What did your parents do to you?). The final match is a good game of find the flag. On campus a flag is hidden for each school and the first school to bring back their respected flag wins. Cinch believing that Canterlot is using magic to win (and totally not phase by the fact that MAGIC EXIST. Seriously! You just saw it right in front of you and the only thing you care about is winning! Fuck you) decides to fight fire with fire. She wants to use the magic that Twilight has stored in her device to give them the edge in the game (and she convinces her to do in the evilest way possible. An evil peer pressure song. Scene here: https://youtu.be/h2WBtambcsE). So Twilight turns evil on us and begins opening up portals to Equestia which will destroy the world they’re currently in (why is it always our world that gets destroyed when other dimensions collide with each other? Is Equestia bigger than our world? Does their magic play a big part in it?) and Sunset Shimmer tries to stop her leading to probably the best scene in the movie as Sunset Shimmer’s arc has come full circle (scene here: //youtu.be/Ha97o6VgEX0, well that was anticlimactic. Also, as for the transformations I will say they’re better than the first movie. This time they decided to let them keep their human forms and just give them horns. It works at the end. Trying to combine their human forms with their pony forms just made them look ridiculous). After everything is settled Cinch tries to come in saying Canterlot cheated (said the woman who forced her student to use magic turning her into a. . .I honestly don’t know what to call her) and that she plans on taking this to the school board (yeah, have fun with that. Go ahead and tell them about the magic portal, different dimension, and talking dog and see what they say. I’ll be sure to come and visit you in the looney bin). Realizing her argument won’t be taken seriously she leaves defeated and Celestia decides to end the game on a draw making both sides happy. Twilight decides to transfer to Canterlot High, the magic returns to normal, and we end the movie on a paradox (scene here: https://youtu.be/3EOwHNR9UOk, Twilight meet Twilight. Twilight this is Twilight. I assume there’ll be a lot of confusion down the road?).

Final Thoughts

So that was the Friendship Games and it’s kind of a mix bag. Overall I do admit I like this movie more than the other two but I do admit Rainbow Rock had the better overall plot. I do like how this movie focuses on Sunset Shimmer and bringing her character arc full circle. In the first movie we saw her as a character who knew nothing about friendship and only wanted power. In the second movie we saw her starting to learn about friendship and recover both mentally and physically. In this movie we see that she finally understands what friendship is, how important it is, and that she needs to have a little more faith in herself and her abilities instead of constantly relying on others for help. That scene where she offers her hand to Twilight the same way the Equestia Twilight did is just great and really builds on her character. The character development on her part throughout these movies was great. Speaking of Twilight I do like how the Twilight in this movie is different than the Equestia Twilight. Some people were upset by this but when you think about it it makes sense why she’s the character she is in this movie. This Twilight was surrounded by people who constantly bought her down and didn’t really have anyone to call a friend while the Equestia version was surrounded by people who praised her for her abilities and had friends who helped her grow and learn as well as develop confidence in herself. A person’s environment can greatly affect their personality more than you think. Cinch is a pretty good antagonist as you really do come to hate her and her superiority complex. While she loses in the end I do wish she got what comes to her at the end.

Some of the things they did bad were they never developed the students of Crystal Prep. The movie built these characters up as if they were going to be the rivals for each of the fury 6-

(Plaintiff): That’s it!

*Plaintiff charges at Nitsuj*

(Nitsuj): Your honor permission to defend myself?

(Sopa): Granted.

(Nitsuj): Reaper. Sword.

*The Reaper throws Nitsuj his sword and Nitsuj charges at the Plaintiff rushing past him like a gust of wind*

*As soon as Nitsuj sheaths his sword a barrage of sword slashes appear on the plaintiff. While not fatal and not piercing the skin the plaintiff screams out in pain before he faints.*

(Bailiff): Your honor he just assaulted another man with a sword.

(Sopa): . . .I’ll allow it. Act of self-defense.

(Nitsuj): Now as I was saying the movie built the students of Crystal Prep up to be the rivals of the Mane 6 but they never develop their characters at all. They only have a few lines and scenes in the movies and they’re all short. I don’t even remember their names. They’re competitive and mean but that’s it what else is there to them? The games were also a letdown. We fast forward through the first one, see bits and pieces of the second one and don’t get to start the third one. I wanted to see more of them. They kind of just serve as an excuse for the movie to have the Mane 6 meet Twilight and interact with her when they could of just done this a better way. The climax between Sunset Shimmer and Twilight was also short and could have been a bit longer and epic.

The animation is still good and quite similar to the other movies and the songs are great this time around. The second movie had good songs but this movie just knocked it all of the park. I don’t know who made the songs for this movie but whoever did deserves a raise and an award. I liked all the songs in this movie, there was not a single one I disliked. While Rainbow Rocks may have had the overall better plot in terms of overall enjoyment I think Friendship Games wins and it is nice to see the mane 6 return back to their non-flanderized selves this time around.

Final Score

The final score for Friendship Games is a 7.5/10. While the movie could of done a better job developing the characters from Crystal Prep and show more of the games it makes up for these mistakes by giving us great songs and bringing character arcs to a satisfying close. So the overall score for the Equestia movies is a 21/30 and averaging that out the final score for all movies is a well-deserved 7/10. As the movies went on they got better and if Hasbro were to turn Equestia Girls into a spin-off series I think it would be a good hit. Is it for me? No. But I do respect the series for what it has done over the years, the writers and people working on it, and if you enjoy watching the series that’s cool to. Like I said before just because I make fun of a series and its fanbase doesn’t mean I hate them. Sometimes you just gotta step back, look at what you’re apart of and say “yes, that is silly” and laugh at it. Look at me, I love anime yet I can still crack a joke at how weird and ridiculous it is but still watch and enjoy it. What I’m trying to say it is if you can’t laugh at yourself than who can you laugh at? Laughing and making fun of something you like or apart of doesn’t make you a hater. It just means that you’re self-aware of both the good, bad, and ridiculous side of something, accept all sides of it, and still enjoy it while getting a good laugh out of it. If you take anything away from this review than take that. Thank you.

*Everyone in the courtroom stands and applauds Nitsuj for his short speech*

(Sopa): *bangs gavel* Order! Order!

*Everyone slowly quiets down*

(Sopa): Very impressive Mr. Nitsuj. With this I can confirm that you’re not a hater. Court finds Nitsuj of Project Nitsuj not guilty. Case dismissed *bangs gavel and crowd cheers*.

*About an hour later Nitsuj arrives home*

(Nitsuj): Ahh~ good to be home. Now that that’s settled I can finally get to Attack on Titan. This review has been a long time coming and now I finally have time to review it.

(Mira): Not quite. There is still one more task you must complete before you review Attack on Titan.

(Nitsuj): Oh come on Mira can’t it wait? I’ve been holding off on this long enough.

(Mira): No. This must be addressed now or at least next week.

(Nitsuj): Fine. At least tell me what it is.

(Mira): Oh you should know. An anime from 2014 based on a popular project that has everyone torn in half. An anime that had a lot of hype going into it but instead left half the audience wanting more and disappointed. It is now time to pass judgement on that anime.

(Nitsuj): Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei?

(Mira): No.

(Nitsuj): No Game No Life?

(Mira): No.

(Nitsuj): Akame ga Kill?

(Mira): No. Well yes but that’s not the anime I’m talking about. Check the table.

*Nitsuj checks the table and sees a DVD as his eyes widen*

(Nitsuj): No. Not this. Not-

(Mira): Yes! Mekakucity Actors!

Next week: Mekakucity Actors followed by AoT (I swear).

*All videos, music, and pictures used in this blog do not belong to me and belong to their respect owners. All rights reserved*

Thanks for reading, as always feel free to leave a comment, feedback, or request in the comment section below or send them iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com